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It doesn’t seem to matter what sport is played there seems to be a rather larger portion of injuries suffered by the hamstring. How many times have we seen our favourite professional get sidelined by a movement that looks pretty minimal and yet puts him/her out for several weeks? After that initial injury it is also not surprising to hear that they are plagued with hamstring injuries for the rest of their career.

Function

Now I don’t want to blind you with science but the cause seems quite obvious to me. Firstly we have to look at the function of the hamstring. It is a muscle that we use to help us with all major movements involving the legs. It’s a group of 3 muscles at the rear of the thigh and they stretch from our pelvis to below our knees. Their main function is to bend our lower leg up, pivoting at the knee. So they will be used for walking, running and supporting the quadriceps (the very big muscle group on the front of the thigh).

Hamstring Training

Now when our athletic friends train they tend to focus on building functional strength in all their muscles. Running will be a prime one but they will also use some advanced training techniques, which I won’t go into now, but I think I can confidently say that the majority of them, if not all of them, will focus on contracting the muscles under resistance. This will produce increasing strength levels and giving the muscles more strength to contract. For the hamstring it means that it will be stronger in its prime movements e.g. lifting your foot towards your bum. Of course with all this contracting the muscle will be getting stronger but also shorter, so to combat this you will not find many sporting professionals these days who are not aware of the benefits of stretching. They will all no doubt be practising good stretching techniques.

So where’s the problem?

Strong supple hamstrings - doesn’t sound like there should be much of a problem does there? Well I believe and have tested the theory that this is indeed where the problem lies. Having a hamstring that is very strong in contracting is for the most part wrong.

Strength when extending the muscle

The hamstring plays a key supporting role to the main leg muscle, the quadriceps, and because it plays this supporting role it means that yes, being flexible will help but instead of being strong when contracting (getting shorter) it actually needs to be strong when getting longer or extending. Picture the movement of kicking a ball. Before the strike the hamstring will be used to help pull your foot up behind you. Then as you begin the strike the hamstring will need to relax as the foot comes forward to connect with the ball. After the ball is kicked you need to slow the leg down so that you don’t injure yourself. The muscle used to help you slow the leg down is the hamstring. It has done no contracting under resistance during these actions, only extending movements so training your hamstring to be good at contracting would make it very unstable in these conditions and potentially contribute to an injury.

So how do I train the Hamstring?

Training the hamstring to help avoid these injuries uses a technique that has been around for ages. It is called Eccentric Training (which I explain in more detail here) it uses the well tested theory that our bodies are able to move less resistance during the shortening phase of our muscle movement than they are during the lengthening phase.

By using this form of training it allows us to train the muscle as primarily a controlling, slowing down muscle to the quad. In the gym the machine to aim for is the leg curl machine, prone or seated versions will work although I prefer prone (lying on your front) as in the picture below.

Slow and controlled

Now the movement is key and you need to move as slowly as possible. The contraction of bringing your feet in should be carried out in a controlled manner taking about 1 to 2 seconds. The eccentric phase or the straightening of your legs should be the part to be concentrated on. This should take a bit longer, around 5 seconds. Once you have completed this you then need to do at least 14 more so that in one set you at least complete 15 repetitions. This is because we need to train the muscle not only to be strong but to be able to repeat this over and over again to give you constant protection.

Don’t go too Heavy

To start with you will probably need to select a relatively light weight but as you get stronger you will learn your strengths and be able to increase it. Basically you are looking for a weight that you can use to successfully complete the 15 reps with perfect technique. However by the last rep you should feel that perhaps you could complete a couple more reps but no more. If you do it to complete exhaustion then you will be in danger of injuring yourself and defeat the object of the exercise. Also during the exercise make sure you keep your abs nice and firm to prevent arching your back too much through the exercise.

Finally remember to breathe throughout the exercise, because we are completing 15 reps it is known as a more cardiovascular exercise which means we need to use oxygen as part of the energy system. I breath out on the way down and in on the way up, but as long as you breathe it doesn’t really matter.

The Do’s

•    Pick a weight you can manage comfortably
•    Keep your abdominal muscles firm
•    Move more slowly on the way down
•    Breathe

The Don’ts

•    Don’t pick a weight that is too heavy
•    Don’t move too quickly
•    Don’t hold your breath
•    Don’t arch your back

Summary

Whilst this exercise will help prevent injury to your hamstring by practising the job it is supposed to do in the body, it will not work alone. You must still stretch your hamstring (click here to find out how ) regularly, warm up prior to any sporting event so that the muscles are more supple and drink plenty of water. By religiously sticking to these you give yourself the greatest opportunity to avoid a hamstring injury that could keep you out of sport for life.

It should also be noted that with improved hamstring performance will come improved speed, acceleration and stamina as it will allow the quads to work harder for longer. All round it is an exercise really worth doing.

Let us know how you get on with the training and if you find an improvement in your performance. Good luck!

One Response to “There goes another Hamstring”

1. Matt Says:
   July 2nd, 2008 at 10:58 am

   You’re very much right on the issue of training specificity here. Hamstrings frequently ‘let go’ under eccentric load while only being trained concentrically. It’s a shame more sports trainers don’t know of the distinction.

   Well done with the write up. There was a great review of the factors contributing repeated hamstring injury in the journal Sports Medicine, Issue 34 (10), 2004. Worth a read.

   Matt

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